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ARCHIVED NEWS 2012-2014
Club Coaches (2 positions open) Academy Boys and Academy Girls
Scotia Soccer Club is currently accepting applications for the following two positions for the upcoming 2015 summer season: Club Coach - Academy Boys and Club Coach - Academy Girls. Additional information can be found at: http://www.scotiasoccer.ca/about/job-opportunities/
Thank You to Our Auction Participants
We would also like to thank Scotiabank and Angles Pub for being very generous supporters and partners in this auction initiative.
Andy Firth
President, Scotia Soccer Club
“Soccer is our Goal”
Getting the Message to YOU!
Thanks to Our Summer Volunteers!
Scotia Soccer Club is a community soccer club with a big heart and is located in a thriving area of Halifax. We want our club to grow and continue to provide a quality soccer experience for the expanding number of children in our community. This will only happen with the continued efforts of the volunteer members of our community. We are always looking for help with our teams and programs. If you are interested in helping out with the soccer experience in your community please email our registrar Verona Leslie at registrar@scotiasoccer.com or our Director of Coach and Player Development Tony Cargill at techdirector@scotiasoccer.com. In the interest of continuous improvement we are looking for feedback. I would ask if you have any comments about the summer experience either positive or negative, to please send them along to Verona or Tony.
Additionally, our Annual General Meeting will be coming up in November so please check our websitehttp://www.scotiasoccer.ca/ for the date and location later this Fall. We encourage all our members to attend this very important meeting.
- Andy Firth, President, Scotia Soccer Club
Thunder Storms
If a rain or thunderstorm starts after HRM has made the call to keep the fields open, events can be cancelled under the following conditions. 1. Referees make the call at a game, if it is raining too hard or if it is thundering. 2. Trainers and coaches make the call if it is a practice or training session. Players are not permitted on the field for 30 minutes after the last episode of thunder or lightning.
Bottle Drive
Scotia Soccer Club has teamed up with the Enviro Depot, 44 Greentree Avenue, Windsor Junction and the Sackville Bottle Exchange, 446 Sackville Drive, to give you the opportunity to help us Fund Raise for the Club. All you have to do is return your bottles to either of theses centres and ask that your refund be deposited to our accounts. Enviro Depot deposit account is "Scotia Soccer Club" and the Sackville Bottle Exchange is "Page 28." It's so simple and every deposit counts in offsetting our costs to keep your soccer fees down!
Scotia Alumni Nkem Ezurike Named to Team Canada!
Congratulation to Nkem Ezurike who made Team Canada and will be playing in the Cyprus Cup March 3-13! Along with Christine Sinclair, Nkem will play forward for the Women's National Team. See full story at CSAhttp://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-wnt-roster-for-2014-cyprus-cup-announced-p155980. Check out the tournament at http://www.cypruswomenscup.net/
SNS Merit Awards Presented to Scotia Soccer Club Members!
U12A Girls Thank You Note
The Scotia U12A girls would like to send out a note of THANKS for all the support they have received during their Journey to BMO TOTW 2013 Champions! We do not yet the know the final standings but their appreciation for all the contributions and votes during this contest from the Club and the community was outstanding! Throughout the summer the girls volunteered each week in the community at various events. In the end they raised $1186.09 for FeedNS! The act of giving is priceless and we hope this will continue in the youth within the Club!
WE NEED TO HEAR FROM ALL MEDAL WINNERS!
Attention all team officials! Did you place first, second or third this summer in a tournament or league play? Did you remember to notify us to put this information on our website? We mention all of our successes on our Achievements page! Some of our teams will be attending Provincials and we will soon post who and where, which means soccer still isn't over for us! Please keep that in mind, if you are eagerly awaiting information on the winter season. We still have summer teams participating into early September!
Nkem Ezurike Wins the RICOH Award!
Scotia Soccer Club alumni and former Nova Scotia provincial player Nkem Ezurike was named the 2013 RICOH Female Team Athlete award recipient at the RICOH awards ceremony held in Halifax on June 1, 2013. Nikem, a striker presently plays for Michigan Wolverines, an NCAA school where she is a starter. She has been a member of Canada’s national team program since 2006. Nkem won a bronze medal with Canada at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championships and represented Canada at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand 2008. This past year, she was a member of Canada’s U-20 Women’s team. The team won a silver medal at the COCACAF Championships in Panama advancing to the FIFA Under 20 Women’s World Cup in Japan. At these Championships Nkem became the first Nova Scotian player to score at the International scene finishing second amongst Canadian scorers with three goals. Nkem saw action at the U-20 World Cup starting two games for Canada.
Congratulations to Our Coaches Attaining their Pre B Coaching Credentials!
Mesut Mert Joins Suburban District!
On behalf of the Suburban Board of Directors, I am very pleased to announce that Mesut Mert has accepted the role of Director Player and Coach Development with the Suburban District Soccer Association. Mesut has the passion, talent, and leadership abilities to take soccer in the Suburban region to the next level with innovative programs and new ideas. He is the right person to position our region as a leader in Canadian youth and senior soccer development.
As a player, Mesut has three years of professional experience with the Calgary Mustangs and the Montreal Impact. He had a highly successful university career with Saint Mary’s University and continues to display his exceptional skill and playing ability in the NSSL Premier Men’s Division. Mesut’s many awards include but aren’t limited to: NSSL Golden Boot Award and MVP, MVP with the Calgary Mustangs, two-time CIS Player of the Year, two-time CIS All Canadian First Team, and two-time Saint Mary’s University Male Athlete of the Year. Mesut also had the honour of being selected to represent Canada in the World University Games in South Korea.
Mesut holds a CSA National B Coaching License and in 2010 he was named the NSSL Eastlink Premiership Coach of the Year. He has also been very successful as the Assistant Coach of the Saint Mary’s University Men’s soccer team. In 2010 and 2011 Saint Mary’s were AUS Conference Champions and earned Bronze and Silver medals in the CIS national tournaments. Mesut is involved in the provincial program, winning gold at Altantics in 2011 with the U13 Nova Scotia boys team and he is currently the head coach of the U14 Nova Scotia Boys team.
As Suburban’s new Director of Player and Coach Development, Mesut joins Assistant Technical Director Jared Griffiths, technical directors from Bedford (Mike Ayyash), Scotia (Tony Cargill), East Hants (Geraldo Ferrari Junior) and Sackville (Nicole Gaudet), Mike Hunter (Serious Goalkeeping) and our qualified coaches to make up a very talented District Technical Team.
Thanks to Suburban’s hiring committee and especially to Frank Kennedy (Chair) and Bev White who worked hard to ensure a thorough, professional and successful search for our new Director of Player and Coach Development.
Please join me in welcoming Mesut!
Chuck McKenna
President, Suburban District Soccer Association
Scotia Alumni Nkem Ezurike is a Star at University of Michigan!
Scotia is very proud to highlight this the following article from the University of Michigan, where Nkem has been playing soccer for the past two years. http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/102612aaa.html . Quotes from the article include: "Ezurike has scored 30 goals; already sixth best in program history (her next goal ties her for fourth). Since Ezurike's arrival in 2010, Michigan is 32-16-8. The two years prior, the program was 10-19-10." "f you look at the top teams around the country, they all have at least one go-to scorer. Nkem is that for us." "Their game plan [the opposing team] is to try and shut her down, which typically doesn't work anyway, having other teams focus so much on her allows other players to go unnoticed. She can make an impact with or without the ball." "She isn't a dirty player. She doesn't kick people. She's just so strong and most defenders can't handle her." "When it comes to skill, speed, strength, striking the ball, beating players one-on-one, Nkem is better, the scary thing is that she's a long way from reaching her potential. There just aren't that many players in the world with her athletic ability that can finish chances."
Thank You!
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On behalf of the Board of Directors at Scotia Soccer Club, I want to thank all the countless volunteers who have made this summer soccer season such a success! The weather has been terrific and this allowed all our many tournaments and most of our games to be played under sunny skies. Without our volunteers however, none of this would have happened. Just like the volunteer parent board members and all the team coaches and managers, we are doing this because we love our children and want to give back to the community in which we live. Additionally, there have been many parents who have stepped up to helped out with the many functions required to successfully run the year-end jamborees. Those folks also deserve our thanks. Scotia Soccer Club is a community soccer club with a big heart and is located in a thriving area of the HRM. We want our club to grow and continue to provide a quality soccer experience for the expanding number of children in our community. This will only happen with the continued efforts of the volunteer members of our community. We are always looking for help with our teams and programs. If you are interested in helping out with the soccer experience in your community please email our registrar at registrar@scotiasoccer.com. Additionally, our Annual General Meeting will be coming up in November so please check our website http://www.scotiasoccer.ca/ for the date and location later this Fall. We encourage all our members to attend this very important meeting. Andy Firth President, Scotia Soccer Club “Soccer is our Goal” Scotia Hires New DOCPDPublished Friday, July 20, 2012
by Andy Firth>
The Board of Directors at Scotia Soccer Club would like to update the membership on the results of the competitive process to select our Director of Coach and Player Development (DOCPD). The competitive process took countless hours of volunteer time to plan and implement and ultimately an unprecedented 28 people were involved. This included the evaluation committee which was comprised of 6 members including the new Suburban Regional Technical Director Dragutin (Dragan) Ivkovic. Additionally, Scotia Soccer Club coaches and players were involved. The process included an interview and then a demonstration phase with children and then coaches. At this time I am pleased to announce that Tony Cargill was the successful candidate for our DOCPD position and I would like to welcome him to the Scotia Soccer Club team. The DOCPD title is new for our club and replaces the traditional Technical Director (TD) title. As such, the emphasis will be on the development of players as well as our coaches. Tony brings with him a wealth of experience and a partial list includes;
Tony’s official start date is September 1, 2012 and we all look forward to Tony settling into this new position for the fall and winter program. “Ciad Mile Fàilte” Tony! (translates to 100,000 welcomes in Gaelic) I would like to thank Jenn Noel for stepping in to cover as technical director after the departure of Mesut Mert. Jenn has brought a sense of dedication and professionalism that certainly needs to be recognized. She helped stabilize our program and pass it off to the next phase of growing our club into the best Tier 2 soccer club in Nova Scotia. |
Letter to Membership Spring/Summer 2012
The Board of Directors at Scotia Soccer Club would like to update the membership on our latest program initiatives and happenings.
The Spring/Summer Program has already started for some groups while the mini recreation program will be starting shortly. We are looking forward to a summer of fine weather and children having fun playing the beautiful game of soccer.
We hope that you have noticed that our registration fees are now lower for all age groups compared to last summer. Also, we have eliminated the tryout fees for our competitive teams.
To ensure that Scotia has the best possible coaches, we are continuing to encourage our coaches to take the Soccer Nova Scotia approved courses that are applicable to the age group they are coaching. Additionally for our coaches practice preparations, we are posting U4/U6/U8 and U10/12 coaching manuals under the “Officials” tab. Hopefully, the coaches will find these to be of assistance. Please refer to our web site for more details.
Speaking of our new web site, we hope you are enjoying its fresh new look and feel!
Academy Program
On March 28, 2012 there was a meeting of the Board of Directors with the Academy coaches and managers. This was the first time these groups have specifically met, and it was a great opportunity to get feedback about the Academy Program. Three key messages came out of that meeting. The membership wants good training, effective communication and evening summer skill sessions.
The following are some new initiatives specific for the Academy Program this Spring/Summer:
- Indoor turf time in the Spring to help avoid the potentially nasty April/May weather.
- Fitness/agility training for the U10/U12 age groups.
- An evening summer skills session for the U10’s. Tentatively scheduled for Wednesday nights but details will follow soon. We hope to expand this to all groups next summer.
- An additional trainer to help enhance the training experience.
- Year-end party for all Academy age groups. This will include food, games and a small graduation ceremony for our “graduating” senior Under 12 class. The date has been set for Monday, August 27, 6-8 pm at Weir field. Mark your calendar!
Recreation Program
The following are some specific initiatives for the Recreation Program this Spring/Summer:
- Earlier program start-up. Commencing in the first week of June, rather than the traditional later start-up in June.
- We are partnering with the Active Start Soccer Fest program to enhance the experience of the season start-up and ending tournaments.
- Revamped training program to help enhance the training experience.
We are currently in the process of purchasing a number of shade tents. These would be available to our teams participating in tournaments. The use of these will be coordinated through the team managers via the Scotia Equipment Manager.
Lastly, as some may already know, Jenn Noel is currently our Interim Technical Director and the process to hire a permanent Technical Director will begin soon. There will be a job posting on our web site and other associated advertising in the next week or so and we will have a permanent Technical Director in place for October 1, 2012.
Have a great summer,
Andy Firth
President, Scotia Soccer Club
“Soccer is our Goal”
"The Together We Can Foot Ball Tournament" Bondo, Kenya March 2012
"Scott seemed thrilled that he was able to bring in the soccer balls, especially when I told him the kids in Bondo (where my parents are) LOVE playing soccer and even play using hand made soccer balls. When they packed, my parents made a point to bring all the balls with them in their luggage (deflated of course!) to make sure they
did not get "lost" in transit.
I spoke to them this weekend, and although they are still in the process of figuring out the best way to spend the money raised by the school (Ash Lee Jefferson) for this initiative and how to make the best use of the items donated by the school as well, they have found a use for the soccer balls.
ICO, which is the organization my parents are working for, has funded the purchase of soccer jerseys and shorts for approximately 8 teams to form a soccer league in the school district. The soccer balls Scotia Soccer Club sent over there have made this possible.
Starting mid March, ALL of the thousands of students in the school district will begin partaking in a soccer tournament. Each school will receive 2 soccer balls with which they will be able to practice with. Each grade in the school will form a team, and will play against a team from another school of the same age. The tournaments
will last for 3 weekends on which days ALL of the students will be fed and given water (and for many of the kids involved this is not the norm).
Once the tournament between 2 schools is finished, they will keep the soccer balls, the jerseys will be washed and prepared for the next 2 schools. Those 2 schools, will each receive 2 soccer balls, like the earlier schools, and the whole process begins all over again.
I believe my parents said there are about 20,000 kids in the district, the plan is to involve all of them in soccer tournaments 2 schools at a time." - Kim Dull, Grade 5 French immersion teacher at Ash Lee Jefferson Elementary School.
The following is a YouTube video and pictures from the successful tournament in March!
New Website
Scotia Soccer Club is excited to present our new and improved website! We hope you agree that it grabs your attention, is easy to navigate through and content is displayed so it is easy to use and understand. The site will be a central resource for parents, players and visitors to find important information, celebrate our successes and support the game of soccer in our communities.
There are ongoing tasks to complete, such as moving archived pictures to the new site and future enhancements are being considered. Any comments or suggestions on how this website can be the best resource possible for existing members and those new to Scotia Soccer Club, please contact the webmaster.